For four years, J.J. Watt made destroying NFL offenses look routine.
From 2012 through 2015, Watt piled up 69 sacks, won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and earned four consecutive First-Team All-Pro selections. He could beat tackles around the edge, overpower guards from the interior, swallow running backs behind the line of scrimmage and knock passes out of the air when quarterbacks tried getting the ball out before he arrived.
And apparently that wasn’t enough. The Houston Texans occasionally put their superstar defensive lineman on offense, where Watt caught three touchdown passes in 2014. That same season, he scored two more touchdowns defensively and finished second in MVP voting.
Watt wasn’t simply a sack specialist. At his peak, he was capable of affecting a football game from almost anywhere on the field.
The Résumé
- 3× AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year
- 5× First-Team All-Pro
- 5× Pro Bowl
- 2× NFL sacks leader
- 114.5 career sacks
- 195 tackles for loss
- 27 forced fumbles
- 70 passes defended
- 2× 20.5-sack seasons
- 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year
- NFL 2010s All-Decade Team — Unanimous Selection
From Wisconsin to Houston
Watt’s road to NFL superstardom wasn’t exactly straightforward. He began his college career at Central Michigan as a tight end before transferring to Wisconsin, walking on and eventually transforming himself into one of the country’s best defensive linemen.
Houston selected him with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, and it didn’t take long for the Texans to realize what they had. His rookie season was promising, but his second season was historic.
In 2012, Watt exploded for 20.5 sacks, 39 tackles for loss, 42 quarterback hits and 16 passes defended. Those 16 passes defended were the most ever recorded by a defensive lineman at the time, and Watt became the first player in NFL history to record at least 15 sacks and 15 passes defended in the same season.
At just 23 years old, Watt was named Defensive Player of the Year.
And somehow, he was only getting started.
One of the Greatest Defensive Seasons Ever
Then came 2014.
This was J.J. Watt at the absolute peak of his powers. Watt recorded another 20.5 sacks, 29 tackles for loss, 51 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles and 10 passes defended. He intercepted a pass and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown.
But Houston didn’t stop there. The Texans started using their superstar defensive lineman on offense near the goal line. Watt caught three passes that season, and all three were touchdowns.
So in the middle of producing one of the greatest defensive seasons of the modern era, Watt was also lining up as an eligible receiver and scoring touchdowns for the offense. He finished the season with five total touchdowns between offense and defense.
A defensive lineman scoring five touchdowns while also recording 20.5 sacks sounds like something you’d create in Madden.
That season was so dominant that Watt finished second in AP NFL MVP voting, an almost unheard-of achievement for a defensive player in a quarterback-dominated award.
He won his second Defensive Player of the Year award instead.
Three Defensive Player of the Year Awards in Four Seasons
If 2014 had been Watt’s only historic season, we’d still remember him as one of the greatest defensive players of his generation.
It wasn’t.
In 2015, Watt followed it with another 17.5 sacks, 29 tackles for loss and 50 quarterback hits. He led the NFL in sacks and captured his third Defensive Player of the Year award in four seasons.
At that point, Watt had accomplished something only one other player had done: win the award three times.
That other player was Lawrence Taylor.
From 2012 through 2015, Watt recorded 69 sacks. During that four-year stretch he won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and earned four consecutive First-Team All-Pro selections.
That wasn’t simply consistency. That was sustained destruction.
More Than a Pass Rusher
Calling Watt an elite pass rusher almost undersells what made him special.
Watt could line up outside and beat tackles around the edge. He could move inside and overpower guards. He could destroy running plays before they developed. And if a quarterback tried getting the football out quickly to neutralize his pass rush, Watt had another answer.
Get his hands up.
Watt finished his career with 70 passes defended, an absurd number for a defensive lineman.
That versatility made blocking him incredibly difficult. An offense couldn’t simply identify one spot and send help there all afternoon because Houston could move Watt around the formation searching for favorable matchups.
Sometimes he won with speed. Sometimes he won with power. Sometimes he didn’t even need to reach the quarterback to ruin the play.
At his best, Watt could affect almost every part of an offense.
The Injuries
Unfortunately, injuries prevented Watt from sustaining his early-career dominance uninterrupted.
After playing every regular-season game during his first five years, back problems limited him to three games in 2016. A leg injury ended his 2017 season after five games. He later missed significant time again in 2019 and 2021.
Those injuries cost Watt several seasons during what should have been the heart of his prime, but whenever it appeared his days as an elite player might be finished, he found another gear.
In 2018, after playing only eight total games across the previous two seasons, Watt returned with 16 sacks and seven forced fumbles while earning another First-Team All-Pro selection.
Even his final season showed what remained. Playing for the Arizona Cardinals in 2022, a 33-year-old Watt recorded 12.5 sacks before retiring.
He didn’t limp to the finish line. He walked away still capable of terrorizing quarterbacks.
Bigger Than Football
Watt’s connection to Houston eventually became about far more than what happened on Sundays.
After Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston and surrounding areas in 2017, Watt launched a relief fundraiser with an initial goal of $200,000. The response became enormous, eventually raising more than $37 million during the initial campaign and ultimately surpassing $40 million for recovery efforts.
For his humanitarian work and impact on the Houston community, Watt received the 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
For a player who had already become the face of the Texans on the field, it cemented a relationship with the city that went well beyond football.
A Peak We Won’t Forget
J.J. Watt finished his career with 114.5 sacks, but simply looking at that number doesn’t fully explain what made him special.
You had to see offenses dedicate multiple blockers to him and still watch him reach the quarterback. You had to see the hands go up and another pass get knocked down. You had to see him blow up running plays in the backfield, force turnovers and then occasionally walk onto the field with the offense and catch a touchdown.
For a stretch in the 2010s, J.J. Watt wasn’t merely one of the best defensive linemen in football. He was one of the most dominant players in the entire sport.
Injuries may have prevented us from seeing what his career totals could have become, but they cannot erase the peak we witnessed.
The ultimate defensive weapon takes the #4 spot on our list.
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